What Happened When Blaine Moved Into The Loft
by haleygirl
Summary: Blaine has graduated and is finally moving to New York! Rachel, Kurt, and Blaine are now roommates and with that will come some plans for keeping the household running smoothly. May contain spanking.
1. Chapter 1

While Blaine would have happily jetted straight to New York the minute high school was over, his family had other ideas. First there was a flurry of family events and a meeting with a financial advisor his father made him attend. Then there was a two week vacation on Cape Cod, which normally Blaine would have loved. He tried to placate his parents' desire for last-minute together time but, come _on_. He spent most of the vacation buzzing, his mind constantly wandering back to just how close he was to being in his fiancés bed every single night. There was a lot about New York he was looking forward to, but the prospect of sex on demand after so much time apart was almost overwhelming. Sure, Rachel would be his roommate too, but she would be staying in actor housing at her out-of-town _Funny Girl_ tryout a good part of the summer—and Blaine was definitely ready to take advantage of that. And when he wasn't indulging in explicit fantasies, he was thinking of sights he wanted to see in New York, wondering about his class schedule for the fall, re-writing his packing list… his mother had to laugh at how often she just caught him daydreaming.

It was good, Blaine felt, that Rachel was still in the apartment when he finally moved in. His parents were old fashioned and didn't live together before they were married, but somehow the inclusion of Rachel made it seem less like his plan was just living in sin as his grandmother probably would put it. He drove a hard bargain pointing out the astronomical amount of money he would save living in Bushwick with roommates over a NYADA dorm. Privately, they had concerns about Blaine being in New York in the first place, though, and knowing he'd be with friends who clearly cared deeply for his well-being went a long way to making them feel better about it. They were unsure about his choice to get engaged this young, despite Blaine's assurances that they wouldn't be setting a wedding date for some time with all the other transitions he was dealing with. But they figured if nothing else living together would at least help Blaine understand what married life might be like before he jumped through yet another major milestone. His mom cried the day he moved in and made Blaine promise to Skype them almost daily for several weeks after, which Blaine indulged more than many his age would have.

Once Blaine's parents had left that first day, Kurt sat Rachel and Blaine down and suggested they have a house meeting.

"Ooh. That sounds very official." Blaine said eagerly.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Usually it means talk about chores…" she muttered quietly.

Kurt nodded pointedly at Rachel. "With you, young lady, I'd have to agree. It does too often become time to discuss chores, especially chores undone I'd say…"

Rachel squirmed and looked away a bit.

Blaine straightened hearing the words "young lady." He hadn't been thinking about rules and discipline on his special first day in the city. He wanted to make sure he didn't mar the mood by screwing anything up too soon. "You have… expectations, I imagine?" he asked.

"Yes." Kurt said authoritatively. He opened a folder and took out a typed sheet of paper. "Rachel and I made a list of things that need to be done regularly when we first got here, and agreed on a rotating schedule of responsibilities for the most part. We try to have a house meeting once a month or so—or more often if there's some problem going on. I guess it does sound sort of formal and official, but we both have busy schedules and we didn't want to let stuff around here slide, so this all helps make sure it doesn't. And with three of us sharing space here I think it's going to be even more important."

Blaine nodded, looking over the spreadsheets Kurt had made. Of course he would agree to whatever chores they said he needed to do. He was in New York City now! Vacuuming a couple rugs here and there wasn't going to bring him down.

"Well this sounds great!"

Kurt smiled. "I think you're going to be more into this stuff than either Rachel and I ever were."

Rachel looked at Blaine. "Heh. If you like having chores so much you're welcome to pick up some of mine," she teased.

Blaine blushed and hung his head. "I'm just excited to be here is all."

"We know, we're just teasing you. I remember what it was like being on my own for the first time." Kurt paused, nostalgic.

"So basically I just do what it says on the schedule?" Blaine asked.

"Yes. Some of the items are time-sensitive like loading breakfast dishes and such. And we have a rule that we always bring the garbage down before dark because the back of the building where the dumpster is can be really sketchy. But for the most part as long as you meet whatever responsibility is listed before you go to bed you're good."

"Seems fair."

"Great. So if there are no objections, we'll post this on the refrigerator for everyone's reference? We'll try it out while Rachel's still in town. With everyone doing a little bit every day there shouldn't be any issues, but of course, if there are we'll have to talk."

Rachel grunted. "Talk."

Kurt sighed. "You have something to say?"

Rachel chewed her lip. "Not to be- rude or anything but… Blaine's going to have the same rules as me, right?"  
Kurt nodded. "You mean about what happens if they're not done?"

Rachel and Blaine blushed. Rachel nodded.

"Yes. Depending on the situation, and your explanation for not doing your assignment on a particular day, you might get a warning, maybe two. But this chart is to help keep our home running smoothly, so if you're having trouble meeting those responsibilities regularly, you can expect to spend some time over my knee."

Rachel swallowed. "Okay. I just—" she sputtered, struggling to make eye contact with Blaine. "This is something I've kinda been in trouble over before and… no offense but I'd be kinda pissed if you got a free pass on this stuff."

Blaine put a hand on Rachel's shoulder. "I get it honey. You don't have to… feel awkward. You know I mess up sometimes too. I mean, you've actually seen it before," he added, shyly, remembering.

Rachel smiled slightly. "That was back before I… had an arrangement with Kurt like this too. I guess now that you're here this is all feeling so real."

"Everything with you and me is going to be the same, Rachel." Kurt assured. "And while he may be my fiancé, when it comes to this stuff you don't need to worry about me playing favorites. That's why we're having a meeting, if the expectations are clear you don't need to worry about being surprised by consequences."

Rachel nodded, accepting this. Satisfied that her concerns were resolved, he handed the top spreadsheet to her to look over further. Kurt turned to Blaine.

"Now I made a second spreadsheet for you and me for when she's out, which of course means some more work for both of us for a little bit—but at least while she's here we can see if this schedule works for everyone so we'll be all set in the fall."

Rachel looked up from her spreadsheet. "Hey. How come I have to take out the garbage three days a week and you two only take it out twice?"

Kurt's brow furrowed, confused for a moment. He hadn't even noticed. "Oh. Because there's seven days in a week and there's three of us. There's no way to make it completely even." Kurt explained. "Blaine ends up cleaning the bathtub more often, it all evens out."

Rachel pouted. Blaine looked at her, surprised she was making an issue of one little chore. Kurt rolled his eyes. "You're not even going to be here half the summer, Rachel," he reminded her.

"I know, but you said we'd keep the schedule for the fall!"

"Well, yes, as long as it works for everyone—"

"Well taking the garbage out is a lot harder for me!"

"What? Why?"

"You two don't wear heels. It's a pain to carry a bag of smelly garbage down several flights in heels. Especially when it gets colder out—it gets slippery!"

Kurt raised an eyebrow. "You could wear snow boots when it's icy like a normal person. Or just change to tennis shoes when you get home. No one says you need to be high fashion for household chores."

Rachel scowled. "When I get home I just want to be home and relax. I don't want to have to change clothes and go back outside with the garbage. And I have a bad back-"

"Rachel. You're not infirm. Everyone is going to have to do it sometimes. It's part of—"

" I know! I'm just saying I don't like that I have to do it more than you two, and-"

"I'll switch with you." Blaine interrupted. "I don't mind. You can do the bathtub more days and I'll do the garbage. What are roommates for?"

Rachel smiled. Kurt's eyes narrowed for a moment, thinking that she was being manipulative, but if Blaine didn't mind it wasn't worth pushing the issue. He penciled in the change on the master schedule and posted it on the refrigerator. She really was only going to be around for another two weeks before taking most of her stuff and performing in some obscure New England playhouse the rest of the summer. There was no point in fighting over nothing.


	2. Chapter 2

The first few days with the chore chart went fine. Blaine was meticulous in making sure he was meeting expectations, asking a lot of questions about exactly how each task ought to be done. Rachel thought it was funny—she thought assignments like "put away the dishes from the dishwasher" and "tidy up the common areas" were pretty straightforward. But Blaine countered that she was used to their shared understanding of which cabinet each item was supposed to be placed in, for instance, and he didn't want to get flak for doing things his way.

Kurt thought Blaine was being a little over-serious about things too, but realized when he saw him put away groceries on all the wrong shelves that it was only fair to be clear about each task in advance. He couldn't complain that the vegetables were in the fruit bin if he'd never actually said it was supposed to be a certain way. He hadn't realized that he and Rachel had developed a lot of unwritten rules about how things were supposed to be until he suddenly had someone new in his space. That afternoon he went over how Rachel and he had always sorted the groceries.

" I'm so sorry, Kurt—I'll move them right now." Blaine had said, rushing back to the refrigerator.

"Honey, you didn't know. It's not a big deal, honest. I just want you to know for next time—the food stays fresher when its arranged that way."

"It makes total sense, I never even thought about it. I'm real sorry—" Blaine replied, transferring the food around to the proper shelves.

Kurt watched him fix the food and then put an arm around him. "Are you apologizing for everything because you think I'm going to be mad at you? I know I'm OCD about some things, and before Rachel I'd never even shared a room with anyone. Am I pressuring you to be too perfect?"

Blaine furrowed his brow. "N-no Kurt. I just—want us all to be happy here. It was your place first, if something annoys you about how I do something it's better you tell me and then I can fix it."

Kurt smiled. A lot of the times they had run into trouble or conflict as a couple in the past had stemmed from letting issues simmer. Blaine wasn't fragile, he realized, and he was just trying to make this roommate thing work. "Okay, just making sure," he said, kissing his fiancé. "You're just so different from Rachel sometimes. I think I don't worry if I'm bossing her around too much because I know she'll complain even when she really deserves it. And while I do want you to do your chores so our home runs smoothly, you'd let me know if you felt I was being too strict, right?"

Blaine grinned. "I get the impression Rachel is pretty regular with the feedback on that."

Kurt chuckled. "Sometimes. It's just tricky though. Obviously I don't expect… either one of you to like it if I need to punish you."

"You've always been fair with me."

"I try, but sometimes it's not clear cut, right? Like sometimes you know you screwed up and come to me even, but I have to be careful I take issue with something you might not immediately consider that big of a deal. Like sometimes you might have a point."

Blaine nodded, a little unsure. "Well I guess. I remember that first time that Rachel walked in on us…" he trailed off grimacing. It wasn't a memory he was fond of.

Kurt tilted his head. He hadn't thought of that in ages. "You mean my senior year? When we were in my bedroom and Rachel—"

"Yeah." Blaine nodded, uncomfortable. "The day I got in a fight with Sam."

"God I felt awful that day. It was all my fault she—"

"N-no Kurt, you couldn't have known she'd—"

"I should have locked the door, or said you'd be punished at another time. Or I could have just had you write lines or something instead, I don't know. I just felt horrible about how embarrassed you must have been."

"We were pretty… new at this then. Don't get me wrong, I'd definitely still be mortified if someone we knew saw me… get in trouble," Blaine admitted.

"Of course," Kurt soothed, rubbing his hand against Blaine's back. "It's private."

"Yeah, like—almost more private than if someone walked in on us having sex. But back then it was so new for us and felt like an even bigger deal—I'm sure I reacted really dramatically. But I don't blame you. Stuff happens, and we handled it. And luckily it was Rachel, who was totally trustworthy about keeping it to herself. It was a long time ago."

Kurt nodded. "I haven't thought about it in forever."

"Me either. I just… brought it up because I guess that was one time when… I was—submitting?—more. Like you said I needed to be punished and I respect our arrangement, so I put up with it. That time I felt more remorse after. Sometimes getting a spanking is what really brings home that I need to behave better. But it was different than those times when I fibbed about something and knew I'd messed up. When that happens I don't particularly look forward to a trip to the woodshed, and I might even try to negotiate a bit, but I usually do get that I've earned one. I don't know if this even makes sense—" Blaine sputtered, fidgety.

"It does. You don't think I should have spanked you for fighting with Sam."

"N-o—it's not that. I—now I know I definitely had no right to be rude to him. I shouldn't have insulted him to the point that he put his hands on me, and when he did I know… if Mr. Schue hadn't broken us up—there's a part of me, back then, that would have been a little too open to a fistfight. It wasn't… just about self-defense. It was what?— maybe a month after I promised you I wouldn't go to the Fight Club anymore? I needed you to hold that line with me back then. When he pushed me I felt my instincts to push back and show him up, and I remember Mr. Schue jumping to try to break us up but I definitely had an opening to at least get one good punch in—but I walked away. I really wanted to hurt him in that moment but I knew you'd be disappointed in me. And I think I argued a bit about being in trouble for it and maybe could make a logical case against it, but deep down I knew I needed you to hold me to a high standard on that score. I needed to let you be the judge of my discipline, because it was too easy for me to let my emotions dictate my actions."

"Really? I had no idea. I feel like I've gotten more confident over time but back then I think I was doing a lot of making it up as I went along. I remember being upset about what you said to Sam but being a bit on the fence about whether the fighting was legitimate self-defense or not." Kurt realized that they hadn't really even talked about it much after because they were both so wrapped up in processing Rachel being suddenly in on their business. He wouldn't make that kind of mistake now.

"Oh yeah, I went to the gym and had to hit a bag for like an hour after that, I was so mad still. When you called me out on it I was stubborn, and couldn't even admit to myself that you were right. But your instincts about it were on target. I needed you to be stern about it. I was a jerk to Sam and he didn't deserve it. He pushed me in front of a teacher—there was no need for me to push back or escalate. I had other choices."

"But if you felt, deep down, that I was out of line? That I was being really unreasonable punishing you?"

"I would have safeworded."  
"You're sure?"

Blaine nodded. "And even more so if something like that happened now, because we've been through even more together and I know that you've always been fair and… wise. I know I can trust you. Sometimes I'll push back a little if I'm getting scolded because… it's uncomfortable, or I honestly need to understand better why you have an issue with my behavior."

"I get that."

"And honestly, I don't think I've ever been too thrilled when I've gotten my backside spanked with the spoon." Blaine blushed.

Kurt nodded.

"I'm kind of almost always going to tell myself that maybe I need a little punishment but not that much. The harder it's going to be, the harder it is to accept, even if I do deserve it."

"It makes sense. It's natural."

Blaine held Kurt's hands, looking into his eyes. "So sometimes I have to ignore the part of me that wants to argue or stop, and trust that you know best for me. But if I felt deep down that your expectations were getting unreasonable, or felt—subdued rather than corrected?—I'd absolutely say so. I'm sure Rachel feels the same."

Kurt squeezed his fiancé. He always had a way of making him feel so much better when he was unsettled. "That's good to know. It's a lot of power you two put in my hands and it involves some judgment calls. I'd never want to hurt either of you."

Blaine kissed his cheek. "You're doing fine. But like I said, I'm sure Rachel'll be more than willing to stage a mutiny if you get over the top," he teased.

Kurt laughed. "Yes, never need to worry about whether she's really telling me what's on her mind."

"Speaking of Rachel…" Blaine whispered near his fiancés ear. "She's gonna be with her dialect coach for another hour."

"Hmmm… you have her schedule memorized, have you?"

Blaine giggled. "I've been paying some attention. I know we have the privacy curtains but I'm still getting used to her being a few feet away at night when we…"

"You don't have to worry, our white noise machine is top of the line. I tested it out extensively when Brody was here." Kurt made a face.

"Heh. Fair enough. But since we have some actual privacy for a bit, I was thinking— maybe we could find some way to make the most of this time?"

Kurt reached his hands lower, squeezing Blaine's butt. "I do like the way you think."

Blaine grinned into the kiss that followed, reveling in the tickling feeling that bubbled inside as Kurt got handsy. He remembered how just last week he'd been fantasizing about messing around with Kurt alone in the loft. _This really is my life now. I'm the luckiest guy in the world._


	3. Chapter 3

After some…. recreation, Kurt reluctantly got dressed to leave for VogueDotCom for the evening. He was trying to make up for missing so much time there during the school year by putting in as much time as possible there during the summer. But he also had had a lot on his hands getting Blaine all settled in and picking up a bunch of shifts at the diner with so many people out on vacation lately. Usually his schedule was so inflexible that he hesitated to say no to work when he actually had the time for it. He was excited to be going in to VogueDotCom more again though, and there was certainly plenty to do there—Fashion Week was just a couple months away!

Blaine remembered his chores and dusted all the shelves before settling down on the couch with a snack. He was watching Netflix when Rachel arrived.

"Hey! How'd your dialect session go?"

"Good. She says I'm finally starting to get the hang of it!"  
"Well that's great news. I can run lines with you tonight if you like. I can't wait to see the whole production."

"Yes I told Kurt you two are definitely taking a train out next month when I'm all alone in the middle of nowhere."

"Aw, it's not nowhere! You know how many great shows started out there? I was researching it online, it's amazing!"

"I know, I just miss New York now when I'm not here. Even if I'm away from it for a day or two. It's just where I'm my best self, you know?"

Blaine grinned. "I can't believe we're all real New Yorkers now! Artie's going to be here in a month, and Sam's talking about coming out here too, he's just getting his funds in order."

Rachel laughed, sorting the mail she'd picked up. "We'll have quite a Glee reunion coming our way then I guess…" Rachel hesitated a moment by the refrigerator, looking at the schedule Kurt had hung there.

"Hey what day is it?"

"Thursday."

"Ugh."

"What's wrong?"

Rachel sighed. "It's stupid, it's nothing." She kicked off her shoes, sat down on the chair near the couch, and rubbed her foot.

Blaine sat up. "You're sure?"

"I just stubbed my toe at the diner this morning, and my feet were already covered in blisters from rehearsing too much—they've been killing me all day."

"Oh that sucks. You should run a hot bath. You deserve it."

Rachel smiled. "You think… you could do me a little favor?"

"Sure, what?"

"… take the trash down for me? It's my turn, but my feet are just—"

"Oh." Blaine hesitated a moment. "I—Of- of course Rachel. No problem."

"You know I wouldn't normally ask but—"

Blaine shook his head and gave her a little kiss on the cheek. "I've been practically on vacation all day and you worked at the diner and on _Funny Girl_." Blaine went over to the trash can in the kitchen and pulled out the bag. "It's not even that much, see?"

"I really appreciate it, you're a saint Blaine."

Blaine shook his head. "Hardly. I'm pretty sure sainthood requires jumping through a couple more hoops."

"Kurt's such a taskmaster, we shouldn't even have to take out the garbage every single day. It's not like it gets that filled up."

"Eh. You know Kurt. He's paranoid about getting bugs. They freak him out."

"Oh I know. You should have seen him when he found out the neighbors on the first floor got bed bugs. He went on a sanitation spree around here like you've never seen! He was obsessed for a month."

"Yikes. I'll bet."

"Still don't understand how someone that anxious about insects woke up on the morning of his graduation and decided to sport a giant cockroach pin."

Blaine giggled and shrugged. "He only likes them if they're dead or plastic I guess. I think he told me they symbolize hope or something, but you know Kurt. Anything for fashion." Blaine went into the bathroom to empty the smaller can into the bag. "Why don't you take that bath and after we can order some Chinese food?" he called out. "I'm buying."

Rachel smiled to herself. She was going to like having Blaine for a roommate.


	4. Chapter 4

The next day Kurt took Blaine out for an early dinner at his favorite restaurant down the street from the apartment. They were just eating dessert when Blaine got a text from Rachel.

 **Hey. I screwed up. Just got out of rehearsal and got talked into going for drinks with the cast uptown. By the time I get back it'll be dark.**

Blaine furrowed his brow, not understanding. He texted back.

 **Sounds fun. What's the issue?**

"Who's texting?" Kurt asked.

"Rachel. Says she's getting drinks with the cast."

"Excellent. You oughta tell her to stay out late. I could use some more time to ravage you later…" Kurt teased. That extra glass of wine he'd ordered was lowering his inhibitions pretty fast tonight.

"Shhh…." Blaine hushed, chuckling and looking around the restaurant. His phone dinged again.

 **I meant to empty out the trash before I left for rehearsal. Kurt doesn't like us doing it after dark remember? Cover for me?**

Blaine bit his lip and stole a glance at Kurt. He texted back.

 **K. Be safe.**

Blaine slid his phone back into his pocket. "I guess… we got lucky tonight..."

Kurt rubbed his fingers against Blaine's knee under the table. "Someone's been getting lucky a lot of nights so far."

Blaine blushed hard and squirmed a moment. "Kur-urt," he hissed, admonishing.

"What?"

Blaine couldn't help but smile. It wasn't often Kurt was this forward, especially in a public place. "You're drunk."

"Am not. Much."

Blaine shook his head. "Well I guess you do have a point that we have been making up for lost time. Probably good we're fitting in a romantic dinner here and there or I'd think you were only interested in me for my body."

Kurt nodded fondly in amusement, enjoying his buzz. "Yes. I've been waiting to have date nights in the city with you since the Glee Club came here on my first trip to New York."

Blaine looked around, noting the mix of patrons in the restaurant. "It's just… amazing to be in a place where we can be "out" like this. I mean, completely out. It's different from going on a date to Breadstix and wondering if someone's disapproving in the next booth."

"I was honestly so excited all day to take you here—couldn't wait for my shift at the diner to end."

"Aw," Blaine said, touched. "That's sweet."

"You've been making me breakfast in bed every morning this week, it was time I treated my fiancé." Kurt said, eating the last of his dessert and playing footsie under the table as the waitress dropped off the check.

Blaine fidgeted, enjoying the attention but also thinking about the situation with Rachel. He wasn't sure how Kurt would feel about him doing Rachel's chores after he'd spent so much time putting that spreadsheet together. They had had Chinese food last night and thrown away the last bit they hadn't been hungry for. Kurt, tipsy and distracted, might not even check the trash tonight, he figured, but if it started to smell by morning he'd probably notice.

"Uh…. Hey I have to remember to Skype my mom soon, but…since you're… treating me tonight and all… I was thinking… maybe you should pick something up for us." Blaine ventured shyly.

Kurt raised an eyebrow, curious. "Something?"

"You could maybe take a little trip down to that shop on Grand we passed the other day. And buy something."

"The shop on-? Oh. That shop."

Blaine nodded. "The one you need an ID to get through the door."

"Heh. You've been playing bashful schoolboy half the night here and now you're demanding presents from that place?"

Blaine smiled. "Not demanding. Just. I did notice we were going through our… supplies… pretty quick… and I happened to see in the window there—"

"You're blushing!" Kurt teased, leaning in further.

Blaine shrunk a little, aware of the other patrons in the restaurant. He whispered. "If you… really wanted to… treat me. I'm just saying—"

"Yes?"  
Blaine leaned in confidentially. "I've never been in one of those stores before,

but I noticed some massage oils and things in the window I've always sorta been curious about."

"Really?"

Blaine nodded, feeling a little embarrassed and silly.

"Well we should go right now then!"

"N-no." Blaine sputtered. "I m-meant y-you should just go."

"What? What's the fun in that?"

"I c-can't go in there."

Kurt blinked. "You're too shy to go in the store? You've been buying lube for us since high school. Since when are you the one who gets embarrassed about this stuff?"

Blaine rolled his eyes. "No. I'm not- I think it's been awhile since either one of us has been that shy about sex," he countered. "And… I'll definitely go with you next time."

Kurt looked at Blaine funny, "You want me to buy something by myself?" he muttered, trying to understand.

Blaine swallowed, unsure. "Yeah. Like something you think we'd like. Together." He looked away. "I—w-want to know you're there and then you s-surprise me with it. After."

Kurt's jaw dropped. "That does sound kinda hot when you put it that way."

"Romantic," Blaine mockingly corrected. Then he broke into an impish grin. "Pick out something special," he winked.

Kurt chuckled. "You're adorable," he commented, getting up and kissing him quickly before taking out his credit card, suddenly rather eager to get going. "Get out of here, say hi to your mom from me."

"Heh. Gonna be difficult not to be distracted talking to her while you're out."

"Good luck with that. I might just have to make you wait a little longer if I end up asking lots of questions."

Blaine grimaced. "You would."

Kurt smiled. "See you in a bit."

Blaine bit his lip watching Kurt talking to the waitress. He guessed Rachel owed him one for covering for her tonight, but it looks like he was likely to get a pretty good deal out of it.


	5. Chapter 5

"You are a very good shopper." Blaine commented a couple hours later, panting and blissed out after some pretty vigorous lovemaking.

Kurt threw his head back and laughed. "Yeah. I had a feeling you'd like that."

Blaine lazily ran the back of his hand against his lover's stomach. "Was it really shady inside?"

Kurt rolled his eyes. "People weren't going at it right in the store or anything if that's what you're asking."

"Kur-urt! You know what I mean. I'm just curious."

"I told you if you're that curious you should have come with me."

Blaine smiled. "I will. I know, it's silly—we're both adults now. It's just… hot knowing we can go to a place like that. Grown up."

"I know you. Whatever you're imagining you're probably going to find it pretty underwhelming when you actually go inside."

"Yeah, I remember when we went to Scandals the first time. I'd built it up in my head for so long that I was almost disappointed to see how normal everything in there seemed. I kinda hoped a place with a name like Scandals would be more X-rated."

"Yeah well the product line at this place was definitely X-rated, but if you weren't paying that much attention to the line of dildos on the wall you'd probably think it was any other store."

"Was it a turn on, buying something?"

Kurt smiled. "Sure. And I'll admit I did get kinda nervous when I actually went to buy it. I mean I wasn't looking at anything super embarrassing, but I was having this déjà vu from when I bought lube in Lima for the first time."

Blaine giggled. "I remember that! You told me all shy after you bought it how you got it special for us and I thought it was the hottest thing I'd ever heard. It was all I could do not to jump you right there in the McKinley parking lot."

Kurt grinned sheepishly. "It was a big deal then! I bought like 6 other things at Meijers I didn't even need in the hopes that the cashier wouldn't notice. What I wouldn't have given for a self-checkout option! I was like shaking thinking that my Catholic grandmother was going to jump out of an aisle. Or your mother!"

Blaine laughed. "What would your grandmother say about the store today?" he teased.

"God I shudder to think." Kurt kissed the top of Blaine's head. "They were nice in there though. Not sure what I was expecting. But it was still more fun than just grocery shopping for you," he chuckled.

Blaine yawned, rolling over to curl into Kurt. "Oh yeah, speaking of grocery shopping. We're out of garbage bags."

"We are?"

"Hmm-hmm."

"Oh I thought you were dusting again today. I still don't have the schedule memorized…"

"Oh I was." Blaine blinked. "I mean, I did. But uh. Rachel mentioned it today. W-when you were at the diner. I just forgot."

Kurt sighed. "Well I wish she would have told me. I texted her from the store on my way home asking if we needed anything. She didn't mention it. I would have gotten some on the way home."

Blaine shrugged. "I guess it just… slipped her mind."

"Well don't let me forget tomorrow. I'll pick some up down the street. If we don't have any she'll totally use it as an excuse to get out of bringing trash out back tomorrow night. She's sneaky like that. I'm surprised we've gone almost a whole week without her trying to talk her way out of something."

Blaine bit his lip. "Eh. You don't give her enough credit."

"Hmmm. I've just been negotiating responsibilities with that girl for a year now. Believe me, I know all her tricks. "


	6. Chapter 6

Kurt awoke the next morning to the smell of bacon and eggs and smiled. He wondered how long Blaine was going to keep this breakfast-in-bed thing going. _He really is a sweetheart sometimes._ He stretched out.

"Hi Mrs. Anderson!" came Rachel's voice from the kitchen.

"Shh. Kurt's still asleep." Blaine admonished.

"Well sounds like with all that working this week he earned a chance to sleep in a bit."

"Yeah, he's been so busy!"

Kurt realized Blaine's mom must be on the computer. It was sweet how she'd been checking in on him so much.

"Did you get the package your brother sent?"

"Yes, yesterday."

"I hope you give him a call to say thank you—"

"Yes, mom. I already did."

"Oh come on, don't take that tone with me. I haven't had a chance to nag you about anything in two days! I thought you were going to Skype me last night but I guess you're all grown up now—too busy-"

Kurt heard Blaine laugh. "Oh Mom, I've been here a week, you can't start with guilt tripping me already! And I told you I'm sorry already, Kurt and I went out to dinner late!

"I know you're busy. And your father tells me I should keep in mind that Friday nights are pretty sacred for college students."

"They are. This restaurant Kurt took me to last night, it's amazing, just a few blocks from here! I'll have to bring you and Dad there when you come out to visit."

"That's great honey. You sound so happy! Well, I have to go, but it was nice talking to you. Have fun and be safe, okay? And you need to write your grandmother that thank you note, don't forget—"

"I'm on it, Mom." Blaine assured.

"Rachel, remind him?"

"I will!"

"Love you Mom!"

"Love you, bye."

Kurt could hear Blaine at the stove, putting the food on plates.

"God you're the most romantic boyfriend ever. You should give lessons. Either that or you really are missing your calling if you don't open a bed and breakfast one day." Rachel told him.

Kurt sat up in bed just as Blaine was peeking through the curtain. "Ah, he is up!" he said brightly, running back to get the tray with all the food.

"Morning Kurt!" Rachel called.

"Morning." He called back, distracted. Something wasn't adding up.

Blaine came in and put the tray down and leaned over to kiss his fiancé. "Morning Sunshine."

Kurt covered his mouth. "Hey nooo. Not til I've brushed my teeth first."

Blaine rolled his eyes. "You're ridiculous."

"Sue me for wanting to keep some mystery in our relationship." Kurt chuckled. He looked at the spread on the tray. "You're totally spoiling me, by the way."

"Yeah I told him that!" Rachel called out.

"You love it." Blaine countered, sitting on the edge of the bed.  
"I do." Kurt picked up a piece of toast and chewed. "So heard you were talking to your Mom."

"Oh yeah, she's doing great I guess. My dad's still on that business trip so I think she's just been home making lists of safety tips to tell me every time we talk."

"Sounds like a mother."

Blaine nodded.

"...Didn't you just talk to her last night though?"

"Hmm?" Blaine sipped some orange juice.

"Last night. Didn't you say you Skyped her after dinner?"

Blaine's brow furrowed, confused. "Uh. Yeah. I guess? When we got back here, I must have forgot."

"You came back here by yourself, remember? After sending me on a certain… special errand?" Kurt's voice lowered, thinking of Rachel overhearing.

Blaine blinked. "Oh right. Yeah. Of course, I meant… when I got back here. I had planned to Skype her and I guess it just slipped my mind."

"You went home to do one thing and you just forgot? What did you do instead?" Kurt asked. He wasn't accusing, but he thought it was weird.

"Uh… well I guess…" Blaine stammered, rubbing his hand against his neck. "I was just-" Blaine grinned slowly. "Maybe a little distracted thinking about what would happen when you got home?"

"Ah. I see." Kurt shook his head, smiling and cutting into his eggs. "Well. Just don't want your family mad you're blowing them off or anything."

"Oh no. She's fine. Don't worry about that. And you know my mom will scold me plenty all on her own if I neglect her." Blaine laughed.

"Yes this is what I like about your mom. She won't let you get away with anything."

"Oh really. That's probably what she likes best about you too. She loves that you make me wear sunscreen all the time."

"Yes, we keep you in line."

Blaine rolled his eyes. "Good thing I have Rachel around or I'd have no one to stick up for me sometimes."

Kurt shook his head in mocking disapproval. "Yes, well we have to keep an eye on Rachel, make sure she's not a poor influence on you."

"What?!" Rachel called from the living room.

"I love you Rachel!" Kurt called back. He sighed. "Hey, you think you can get your chores done this morning so we can go out together to run errands in an hour or so? I know it's silly but I feel like it's my day off and I want to be together, even if it's together doing boring things."

"Hang out with you all day? Well… okay, twist my arm…" Blaine chuckled.


	7. Chapter 7

An hour later, Kurt was looking through the mail at the table while Blaine finished his dusting. Rachel was laying on the couch reading a magazine and Blaine was trying to dust around her.

"Blaine. You only have to worry about the shelves, silly."

"I know, just trying to keep things nice."

"You're going to make me look bad going overboard with all this. You need to knock it off."

"Oh you'll do that all on your own soon enough, Rachel." Kurt muttered.

Blaine and Rachel looked at Kurt.

"What's with the snark?" Rachel complained.

Kurt held up the bill in his hand. "Did you see this?"

Rachel sighed. "I'll take care of it."  
"It's your turn this month. We agreed."

"I know, I know. I forgot!"

"Well I'd like to not have the wi-fi turned off on us anytime soon, thank you."

"It's not going to get turned off."

"It's the second notice!"

"I said I'd take care of it. I have the money, I just forgot."  
"I just don't want to end up in a situation in a couple weeks where suddenly we've got bills I have to chase you down out of state to get us current."

"It's not the 16th century. I'm sure they'll have wi-fi at the Playhouse and if something came up you could text me I'd just you the money."

"Nothing's going to come up, young lady. That's my point."

Rachel groaned, frustrated.

Kurt raised an eyebrow. He brought the bill over and dropped in her lap. "They have an automated number. Take care of it now."

Blaine tensed, hearing that tone. He'd never heard it directed at someone else before. Rachel stared at Kurt.

"I'll do it when I finish my magazine."

Blaine's jaw dropped. He wasn't expecting Rachel to be that… fresh… with Kurt right then.

Kurt's voice lowered. "You'll do it now, or you're going to be nursing a sore backside when you do."

Blaine looked at Rachel. He knew Kurt had spanked Rachel before. But he still had never seen it happen. Suddenly he wasn't sure how he'd feel about it if it did.

Rachel sighed. She closed the magazine and sat up. She looked over the bill and picked up her phone on the coffee table. "Get me my purse, Blaine?" she asked, her voice a little less bold than it had been a moment ago.

Blaine crossed the room and grabbed her purse off the coat rack by the door. He wasn't even the one in walking a tightrope with Kurt here yet he still felt like he needed to be on his best behavior or something.

Rachel dialed the number on the bill.

"Did you drop off the rent check yesterday like I asked?" Kurt asked.

"Yes. God." Rachel muttered, listening to the automated system to pay the bill.

Kurt shook his head. It wasn't worth pushing it right now. "Good," he said, going back to the mail. "You ready, Blaine?"

"Oh uh, almost. Just have to put this stuff away," Blaine said, holding up the washcloth and the cleaning spray and heading towards the cabinet where they kept all the cleaning supplies.

Kurt nodded, throwing out the junk mail in the trash bin. "Oh. Right!" he said aloud, grabbing a pen from the counter. "Where'd we put that grocery list?"

"Shhh." Rachel hushed, annoyed as she tried to hear the automated voice on the phone.

Kurt rolled his eyes. It was probably good he and Blaine were going out for a bit. He loved Rachel to tiny pieces but some days they were just oil and water, and the only thing that ever seemed to resolve it was a little break from each other.

Rachel finally finished punching in her payment and tossed her phone on the coffee table. "Done. You happy now."

"Well not so much with your attitude, but yes." Kurt replied. "Blaine and I are going down the street. What'd you do with the grocery list?"

Rachel picked up a book on the table where the envelope they had all been scribbling their ideas on had been underneath. She handed it over.

Kurt wrote on it. "Forgot to add trash bags."

"We're out?"

Kurt looked at her. "Blaine said you said we were."

"What? I didn't—"

"Y-yes you did Rachel. You don't remember?" came Blaine's voice from behind Kurt, a little higher than normal. "When you took out the trash before you left for rehearsal yesterday?"

"…Oh. Right. I—forgot."

Kurt looked at Rachel funny. He shook his head, dismissing it. "Yeah, so my point before remains- let's keep working on not forgetting things so much, shall we?" he said pointedly. "Anybody have anything else to add to the list?"

"N-no."

"Can't think of any."

"Great." Kurt folded up the envelope and stuck it in his shirt pocket. "We'll be back in a bit."


	8. Chapter 8

That evening, Kurt and Blaine started cleaning up after dinner when Kurt noticed Rachel absorbed in her phone.

"You gonna help?"

"Yeah, in a minute. There's this crazy text chain with everyone in the cast right now. Our Equity Rep's getting involved, something about the housing arrangements…"

"Well okay but I did all the cooking tonight, you can help with the dishes." Kurt snapped.

Rachel looked up at Kurt, a little offended. "Are you looking for a fight now? You did hear me say I was going to help, right? "

"I believe what I heard you say was 'In a minute,'" Kurt replied.

"Which means I'll help, I'm just—" Rachel held up her phone, exasperated. "Let me finish texting them back and…"

"It's cool Rachel," Blaine interjected, "Come on guys, it's not even that much to clean up tonight." Blaine was getting a little uncomfortable with the tension between Kurt and Rachel.

Kurt ignored him. "I thought it was obvious that when dinner's done, if you weren't the one who cooked, then you should be at least helping with clean up," he said.

"It's a great rule, Kurt!" Blaine praised. "You're so smart about… organizing everything."

Rachel put down her phone. "I didn't realize that coming to dinner meant having to drop everything as soon as it's done. It's not like I'm saying I'm not going to take care of it. The dishes can wait a few minutes, can't they?" Irritated, she picked up a serving tray and brought it over to the counter to cover in plastic wrap for leftovers. "You're getting awful bossy lately, Kurt," she complained.

"I'd think after I slave over the stove you'd be saying thank you, not calling me names…" Kurt muttered.

"Bossy's not a name! Who's calling you anything?"

"Forget it, I'll just cook AND clean up AND…."

"No, Kurt—" Blaine interrupted, trying to diffuse things. "You're right, you worked hard, relax—we've got it—"

"'Worked hard'—oh my God," Rachel exclaimed. "You love to cook! You volunteered to do it. Blaine or I would have done it if you hadn't—"

"That doesn't mean, I should have to—"

"No one said you should! We're cleaning it up, stop complaining!" Rachel put down the serving tray, a little louder than absolutely necessary- and everyone was silent for a moment.

"Young lady," Kurt finally said quietly. "You need to watch your tone with me."

Rachel pursed her lips. She took a deep breath, deciding what to say. Finally she nodded and attempted to speak quietly, avoiding Kurt's gaze. "I'm…sorry for my attitude."

"Thank you." Kurt spat, storming off to the couch and opening a magazine.

Blaine and Rachel exchanged glances.

"Not to be rude or anything…" Rachel said evenly, collecting the dishes that were still left on the table, "…but if Blaine and I don't get to throw tantrums, I don't think you should either."

Kurt turned the page of his magazine and didn't respond.

Blaine stood, looking between them. He thought Rachel had a little bit of a point. But so did Kurt. And he really didn't want either one of them mad at him, so he was hoping they wouldn't put him in the middle.

He took a washcloth and wiped down the kitchen table while Rachel put the dishes into the dishwasher. When he was finished he approached Rachel quietly. "Are you… all set with that?" he asked. She nodded and made a gesture to shoo him away.

He stepped back and gave her space. He hadn't done anything wrong yet somehow he felt guilty because everyone in the loft seemed to be mad at each other right now. He walked over to the fridge and looked at the calendar to check his chores and saw it was his turn to take out the trash. He went to get a new trash bag and emptied the bathroom trash into it. Then he went around the loft to take care of the other trash.

Kurt glanced up from his magazine. "What are you doing?" he asked.

Blaine stopped, unsure. He held up the trash bag. "It's my turn."

Kurt rolled his eyes and gestured towards the windows. "Blaine. It's already dark out."

Blaine bit his lip. "I—s-s-sorry. I wasn't thinking. We started dinner later and-"

"I can go down with you," Rachel offered.

"No. It's fine." Kurt said, putting down his magazine. "I need some air anyway. I'll go."

"I'm really sorry—I screwed up."

Kurt raised a hand. "I just want you two to be safe is all. Like 80% of the drug deals I've seen go down since I got here happened back there and last year this guy who we're pretty sure was a pimp was hassling Rachel by there so we—

"I know. I hope you don't mind. I should have checked the schedule earlier-"

"It's fine, Blaine. Really. " Kurt grabbed his hoody off of the coatrack and slid open the door. "Let's just make it quick, okay?"

"Sure." Blaine followed him out with the garbage.

Rachel watched them leave. She knew she probably shouldn't have yelled at Kurt like that before. But he could be so ridiculous sometimes, and he was definitely being crankier than usual tonight. It kinda didn't help that Blaine was being such an over-the-top yes man about every little thing that came up in the apartment. He was probably always going to side with Kurt, she guessed, and it felt like now it was going to be two-against-one whenever there was an issue. _Maybe it's good I'll be performing so much the rest of this summer. Kurt and I need a break._


	9. Chapter 9

"Hey Kurt! And hey- I'm so sorry, I keep forgetting your name?"

"It's Blaine. And your Liam right?" Blaine shook the downstair's neighbors hand.

"I totally did that last night too, didn't I?"

"It's fine. I've been here less than a week!" Blaine grinned, crossing to the dumpster and lifting its lid.

"How's your summer going Kurt?" Liam asked, taking a puff of his cigarette.

Kurt smiled a tired smile. "It's alright."

"Must be happy to finally have the boyfriend here, huh?" Liam teased.

Kurt held up his hand to show off his ring. "Fiancé," he corrected.

"Oh that's right. God you two are so young, I still can't believe I know anyone my age who's already engaged."

Blaine nodded. "We get that a lot." He put the trash into the dumpster and closed the lid back up.

"You set a date yet?"

"Nah, we need some time for things to settle." Kurt explained. "Blaine just graduated, we want it to be perfect so we didn't want to rush."

"Plus my parents at least probably need time just to get used to us living together." Blaine joked.

"Aw I can't imagine. I couldn't even keep up a high school relationship longer than a month or so—my parents would have flipped if I started talking marriage."

"They're cool about it for the most part. I mean they know we love each other, but I think they're glad we're taking things slowly from here." Kurt said.

"Living together's no joke," Liam said, holding up his cigarette. "I told Rob it's probably good I need smoke breaks every now and then because sometimes roommates need their distance, even if it's just for 10 or 15 minutes."

Kurt laughed. "Well I can't say I approve of putting all those chemicals into your lungs, but I guess I can relate to needing a breather here and there."

"I make him crazy sometimes. My cat scratched up his new couch and he didn't speak to me for like three days over it."

"Ah well there's your problem. He thought he had one roommate but the cat makes two."

"Well, between the litter and the cat food, she takes up more cabinet space than I do, so I guess you have a point there. Although I think Rob gets along better with my cat than he has with my last two girlfriends." Liam joked. "He's a good guy though, we're better at room-mating now that we know each other better. He found me on Craigslist—I barely knew his last name when I signed the lease."

"Wow," Kurt mused. "Rachel makes me crazy sometimes but I guess it was kind of lucky that we'd known each other for years before becoming roommates. I already knew a little of what I was getting into. We're both only children—we'd probably have driven anyone else up a wall our first year out of high school."

Liam put a hand on Kurt's shoulder. "Well then maybe your boy here's the one who's going to need to take up smoking, having to put up with both of you!"

Blaine grinned. "I'm doing alright so far."

"Well I hope the fact that we keep running into each other here like this and I never remember your name isn't deterring you from thinking I'm good company."

Blaine made a face. "It's not the company so much as the toxic chemicals. Plus we try not to come out here too late."

Liam nodded. "Yeah there you have a point. A lot of shady characters wander by this way. But keeping peace with the roommate means I promise not to smoke in there."

Kurt nodded. "You ever think of quitting?"

Liam shrugged. "Sometimes. I actually have cut way back since high school. Now that I have actual expenses I count my pennies a lot more carefully."

Blaine nodded. "In high school I worked summers at amusement parks and my parents gave me an allowance. I'd buy music and stuff all the time without thinking about it and now I'm thinking 'gotta remember the budget.'"

"Yeah no one tells you how to not strangle your roommate or balance a checkbook in high school. It'd be a lot easier if there was a class in that. Sure as hell would have come in more handy than Calculus ever did."

Kurt smiled. "Yeah, I guess people our age are all just on our own to figure some things out sometimes."  
"It's part of the adventure!" Blaine said brightly.

Kurt looked fondly at Blaine and then looked at Liam. "He's still starry-eyed about grown up life in New York City."

"Aw, nothing wrong with that. God you two are a pretty adorable couple, I have to say. Even Rob said that and he's cynical about everything!"

Blaine and Kurt chuckled. "Well thanks. And don't stay out here too long. The grandmother in me will worry about you," Kurt admonished.

Liam nodded with a little salute. "I won't. Say hi to Rachel for me. And Blaine I swear, next time you come out here with your trash I promise I'll remember your name. I'm committing it to memory. Third times a charm, right? Blaine- B-b-blaine. Blaine! Blaine! Rhymes with rain! I can do this!"

"Sounds good. Nice seein ya!" Blaine waved and headed inside.

Kurt shook Liam's hand. "Yeah, always a pleasure, say hi to Rob."


	10. Chapter 10

The next morning Blaine was up early again. He hadn't been much of an early bird back in high school but the light shining off the windows in the loft seemed to have a way of nudging him awake, and once his eyes fluttered open he always remembered he could make breakfast in bed again. He smiled, looking at Kurt sleeping next to him. Sometimes high school seemed like a hundred years ago. He was living in the future, and it was truly amazing.

Checking the time, he realized he'd woken up even earlier than usual so he decided to take his shower first. Kurt almost never woke up before his alarm, so he figured breakfast could wait a bit. Blaine quietly slipped out of bed and headed to the bathroom, yawning and stretching.

He pushed aside the shower curtain to start to run the water and looked down. There was hair all caught up in the hair catcher over the drain. In his parents' house back in Lima, something like that wouldn't have even caught his eye, but he'd had a few days of shower cleaning duty earlier in the week and now it jumped out at him. He tensed, cleaning it out and trying to remember if it'd been his turn and he'd just forgotten. Then he remembered seeing Liam outside when he took out the trash with Kurt and relaxed.

After his shower he took the cleaning spray out and sprayed down the inside of the tub. Then he got dressed and dried and then gelled his hair. As he was finishing up, he heard the sound of the TV outside the door. Rachel always liked to check the weather station in the morning before she left. He stepped into the kitchen and sure enough, she was sitting on the couch watching it.

"You're up early, I heard the water running and thought maybe it was Kurt."

Blaine shook his head, studying her for a minute. "No he's still asleep. I think he can drown out the New York sounds in his sleep better than I can now."

Rachel nodded. "When I first came here I was always waking up to a horn honking or an ambulance and now I don't even hear them."

Blaine wandered over to the refrigerator and took the orange juice out. When he closed the door to the refrigerator he glanced up at the chore chart. He paused, looking at it. After a moment he went to the cabinet and grabbed a glass.

"Rachel, you want some juice?"

"Sure!" Rachel turned off the TV. "Bring an umbrella if you're out and about today, it's supposed to rain."

"Aw Kurt will be bummed, we were talking about hitting Central Park today before he had to go into VogueDotCom."

Rachel picked up the glass and drank. "Mmm. This is good."

"It's fresh squeezed. I made it yesterday."

Rachel smiled, shaking her head. "Of course you did. I'm bummed that unfortunately I can't stay for your full three-course breakfast this morning, I've gotta leave for my shift at the diner in like 10 minutes."

Blaine smiled. "Well have a bagel or something at least, you can't go in on an empty stomach."

"You're so sweet. I will. Don't worry."

Blaine bit his lip. "Hey Rach—can I… talk to you about something?"

"Sure, what?"

Blaine hesitated, uncomfortable. "I… uh… I don't want to start anything here…"

Rachel furrowed her brow, concerned. "What is it? Is something wrong?"  
"No. Like, it's not a big deal really. Just…" He shot a glance in the direction of the privacy curtain around his and Kurt's bedroom and lowered his voice. "I took a shower and… kinda noticed that it hadn't been cleaned out yesterday."

Rachel's eyes widened. "Oh man. Was it my turn? God, was it gross, I'm so sorry."

"N-no, it wasn't gross—I mean—I wouldn't have even thought about it, except—"

"I meant to take care of it last night and after I finished with all those dishes, I guess it just slipped my mind. I mean, you saw how Kurt and I were kind of at odds with each other? When we get like that I just figure the less interaction, the better. I just holed up in my room and studied my lines a bit and went to bed."

Blaine nodded. "I—I get that."

"It's really not bad, right, should I-?"

"No it's fine. It was just some hair really, and I took care of it. I cleaned out the hair catcher and sprayed all down. I just-wanted you to know."

"Well great. What Kurt doesn't know won't hurt him, right?"

Blaine smiled, uneasily. "I—I guess."

Rachel looked at Blaine funny. "Well, thanks for covering for me. Let me know when I can return the favor."  
Blaine looked away for a second and then back. "Yeah. Um. Th-that's what I kinda wanted to talk about. I don't want to make a bigger deal than it is, but—" Blaine spoke quietly. "That's the third day in a row."

"What do you mean?" Rachel asked, not understanding.

"You haven't done anything for three days. I just realized- I took out the trash for you two days in a row and then the shower was on the list for you yesterday, so now I've kind of been doing my chores and yours all this time."

Rachel fidgeted a moment. "W-well I said I was sorry."

"I know, and I get it, stuff comes up sometimes—"

"Then what are you saying, are you going to tell on me?"  
"N-no it's not like I'm trying to get you in trouble—"

"Well it sounds kind of like you are." Rachel spat.

Blaine squirmed. "I know you didn't mean to blow things off exactly. I'm just saying, it isn't… really fair. And… you know if you keep this up, Kurt'll find out eventually."

"It's not like I've been meaning to—"

"I just—three days in a row Rachel."

"Well I thought that's what roommates do? You did something for me, and I'll cover for you sometime, and—"

"I don't know if I want you to, Rachel."

"Want me to what?"

"Cover for me. Like maybe I'll really regret this if I screw up something tomorrow or something, but I don't think it's so good for us to be sneaking around behind Kurt's back."

Rachel chuckled. "You're making way bigger of a deal of this than is necessary. We haven't been 'sneaking around.' It's not like—"

"Well it kinda feels like it. It feels like lying." Blaine said simply. "Now I said I wasn't going to tell on you, and I won't… I'm just asking can you try to check the schedule and be on top of it a little more?"

Rachel sighed. "Fine. I'm sorry."

"It's all I ask. I know you've got a lot on your plate with the show, it just puts me in an awkward position—"

"I get it."

"And you've got a pretty easy job today—" Blaine said brightly, pointing to the schedule. "Dusting the shelves takes only a few minutes, really—"

Rachel put up a hand. "I'll take care of it."

Blaine breathed a sigh of relief, happy to have that resolved. "Thanks Rachel. I really appreciate it."


	11. Chapter 11

Kurt's eyes fluttered open at the sound of his alarm and he lazily reached over to shut it off. He could hear Blaine talking to Rachel but didn't make out what they were saying. He remembered how he and Rachel had argued after dinner last night, and how she'd disappeared behind her privacy curtain by the time he'd gotten back from walking out to the back dumpster with Blaine. It had been a relief; they were pretty good at making up after most such arguments, but not until after they'd both had a little time to cool off.

He heard the door to the loft sliding open; Rachel must be on her way out to the diner.

"Hey, Rachel—wait!" he heard Blaine call.

"What?"  
"You're not mad at me, right?  
"No. I get it. And I appreciate you're not telling on me."

"You're sure?"

"Don't worry about it."

And then he heard Rachel sliding the door closed. He stretched, wondering what that was about.

Blaine came in a minute later carrying a tray with juice and toast.

"I'm so sorry, I lost track of time, but if you give me a minute I can whip up something more."

Kurt grinned, wiping sleep from his eyes. "You don't have to apologize, I am actually capable of making my own breakfast, you know. I did it for a whole year before you moved in."

"I know but I like to!"

Kurt shook his head and drank his juice. Blaine sat on the edge of the bed.

"Did you sleep well?"

"Mm-hmm. Rachel went to the diner?"

"Yeah, she just left."

Kurt nodded. "I heard."

Blaine blinked. "Y-you did? You were listening?" he asked. For a second it looked like he was—nervous? Kurt wasn't sure what to make of that. He put down his glass.

"I wasn't—eavesdropping or anything," he replied lightly.

"Of—of course, I didn't mean to sound like I was accusing you."

Kurt looked at Blaine funny. "You weren't. I just heard you talking out there a little bit, asking Rachel if she was mad at you. Everything okay?"  
Blaine rubbed his neck. "Uh… yeah. It wasn't—any big deal."

Kurt studied Blaine. "I didn't actually think it was until you started looking all fidgety just now."

"Fidgety? I'm not… fidgeting." Blaine said uncomfortably.

"Is Rachel giving you a hassle for not defending her enough over clearing the table last night?" Kurt asked cooly. "Because if she is, I'll text her right now to say—"

"What? No. It's… nothing like that."

Kurt paused a moment. "Then what is it? She said something about getting told on? Is she up to something I need to know about?"

Blaine bit his lip.

"Kurt. N-no. It—it was nothing. She… just kinda crabbed about that diet she's on and… made like a snide comment about how you'd… probably have words with her for eating the pie in the fridge. I just said something about how you only want what's best and all that, and just got worried she might think I was being kinda bossy."

Kurt nodded, but noted that Blaine wasn't really looking him in the eye. "She's been doing pretty well on her diet and exercise lately," he said neutrally. "I probably wouldn't even make a big deal about it if she wanted a piece of pie every now and then."

Blaine nodded. "I think she's just being over-sensitive since you two were kind of arguing last night."

Kurt sighed. "Maybe I was pushing too hard with her last night. I mean, it's been a week with the new chore schedule, and far as I can tell she's gotten everything for that done."

Blaine swallowed, rubbing his neck some more.

Kurt's eyes narrowed in on him. "What is it?"

"What? I didn't say anything—"

"You have that guilty look on your face—"

Blaine squirmed. "W-well I guess…. It's just I—when you mentioned chores, I just still feel guilty that I should have taken the trash out before dark last night."  
Kurt rolled his eyes. "You're doing fine. You need to relax about this stuff. It's irritating if you need an escort but the only time I'll really be mad is if you go out there some night after dark by yourself."

Blaine was chewing the inside of his cheek, listening. "Okay. Just guess I don't like getting in trouble is all."  
Kurt shook his head. "As long as you're being upfront and honest with me about what's going on, and of course, not repeatedly dropping the ball on stuff, you really don't need to worry, okay?"

Blaine pursed his lips and then nodded. His eyes darted away to the clock. "Oh man, look at the time. Hang tight and I'll throw together breakfast in a jiffy. Don't want you to be late for Isabel this morning!" Blaine hurried out towards the kitchen.

Kurt watched him go, uncertain. Something wasn't adding up, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He didn't want to accuse Blaine of hiding something from him but he knew from experience how his body language usually changed when he was lying. Did Rachel and him have a fight? And if so, why wasn't he just saying so? With Rachel thanking him for not "telling on" her, it stood to reason he had to be covering for something she'd done. _This must be what it feels like to have two children sometimes_. He didn't like the idea that they were talking like that. Rachel could be manipulative— Kurt wouldn't put it past her to test Blaine to see what he'd lie about for her. If whatever she'd "done" had broken one of their rules, she absolutely shouldn't be asking him to cover for her—and he shouldn't be agreeing to it either. If that was so, he figured, it would be a bad precedent and he'd need to address it before it became a habit between the two of them. It was probably time for a little family meeting—but not before he'd done a little more digging to see what they were hiding.


	12. Chapter 12

Unlike Blaine, who still had the freedom for the moment to lay around the apartment or go sightseeing, Kurt had to get to VogueDotcom. On his way out the door of his building, he ran into Liam again.

"Hey! That's twice in what, 12 hours?"

Liam smiled. "Yeah unfortunately I had the bright idea to take classes this summer, and I've got this study group as a part of it, so I've been rising a lot earlier than I'd like lately."

Kurt nodded. "Blaine's turning out to be quite the early bird, but I myself would much rather sleep in most of the time. But I blew off my Internship so much last semester, I'm trying to make up for it as much as I can now while I don't have NYADA classes til September."

Liam and Kurt walked to the subway together. "So your boy's liking New York life?"

"Heh. It's all he talks about."

"I hope he doesn't hate me for forgetting his name all the time."

"Oh don't worry. He's pretty laid back—about that sort of thing anyway."

"I felt so bad the other night. I called him Bill, or something. And somehow he starts apologizing to me like it's his fault or something."

"Sounds like Blaine. We're working on it." He winked.

"And then when I saw him again the yesterday I think I just froze up because I didn't want to call him the wrong thing again!"

"You and Rob will have to come over for dinner some time. We'll order pizza, go over Blaine's biography- you'll have him committed to memory by the end of the night."

Liam grinned. "I'm sure Rob will be up for that. I'll tell him to give you a call about it."

It was just as Kurt slid his metro card into the turnstile that he put it together.

"Hey Liam?"

"When was it that you saw Blaine?"

Liam gave Kurt a strange look. "Last night. You were there, silly! Were you drunk or something and don't remember?"

"No, I mean- the first time. When you said you called him Bill?"

"The night before."

"You're sure?"

Liam furrowed his brow. "Of course I'm sure. That's why I was so embarrassed. It was two nights in a row his name had slipped my mind… Why do you ask?"

"I just—I mean, we all just try to not go back there on our own. Seen too much gang activity and stuff going on back there at night."

Liam shrugged. "Guess that fiancé of yours is just pretty big into housecleaning or something. I'd count myself lucky- I can't even get my roommate to take out the trash in the middle of the day."

"So he was taking out the trash?"

"Of course, what is he like an ex-smoker and you're worried he's taking it up again?"

Kurt shook his head. "Oh no, nothing like that."

"Then what's with the third degree?"  
"Sorry, it's nothing. I just got… confused about something Blaine said earlier. Lost track of the timeline. Not a big deal."

"Ah, well glad I didn't out him as a smoker or anything. I imagine that'd be a pretty big argument."

"Heh yeah you could say that."  
"He'd be in big trouble?"  
Kurt nodded. "No offense but I'd rather not makeout with someone who has cigarette breath."

"Eh, fair enough!" Liam laughed. "Well I gotta catch my train, see ya later!"

Kurt watched Liam run off and then took out his phone. He opened up the Dropbox App and found the file with the chore chart saved on it. He looked it over and then shook his head. At minimum Blaine had taken out the trash the other night when Rachel it was Rachel's turn. _But we went out for dinner that night, how could he have…_ He remembered all of Blaine's sweet talk about special purchases. _Maybe Rachel's not the only manipulative roommate in my home at the moment…_ He put his phone back in his pocket and thought about it further as he rode the subway into his internship. If Blaine had covered Rachel's chores just that once it was a pretty minor deal. But sneaking around to do it, and completely defying one of their rules about safety over it… that was something else. He wondered what Rachel's excuse for not doing it herself had been. Had Blaine just noticed she hadn't done it and taken it upon himself, or had she twisted his arm about it somehow? It would be like Rachel to make up some dumb excuse at the last minute and Blaine was in such over-the-top Perfect Roommate mode he'd probably want to please her. _Yeah, this is going to all need to be addressed._

When Kurt was waiting for the elevator on his way up to VogueDotCom, he took his phone back out and texted Blaine and Rachel.

 **Hey guys. I'm calling a House Meeting. Tonight. 6:30.**


	13. Chapter 13

Blaine and Rachel got home before Kurt and decided to make dinner together.

"So. House meeting tonight, huh?" Blaine ventured.

"Yeah, any idea what it's about?" Rachel asked, stirring the pasta.

Blaine shrugged. "I hope… nothing's wrong. Seemed like it came out of nowhere."

"Eh, Kurt's into House Meetings. It's probably nothing." Rachel assured. But then she paused and eyed Blaine. "Wait, you didn't tell on me about the chores stuff, did you?"

"What? No. I told you I wouldn't."

"Okay. I just—got nervous there for a second."

"Kurt did kinda overhear some of our conversation this morning but—"

"Wait, what? He did?"

"Yeah, but told him it was nothing! You don't have to worry—"

"What did he hear?"

"I… I'm not sure, honestly. Just that I asked if you were mad at me, and I think maybe a little bit more than that? But—"

"Shit."  
"I don't think it's anything—"

"I thought you said he was still asleep!"

"He was! Or, at least I thought he was. I think he just heard a little bit after his alarm went off, I can't really remember, but I don't think we—"

Rachel sighed, irritated. "It's too easy in this place to think that someone's in the a whole other room when all that's really separating us is a flimsy curtain."

Blaine shrugged. "I guess that's why Kurt invested in his fancy white noise machine."

"Well even if he did find out I missed a chore or two, like I still made sure it got done. Well the first two times anyway. And isn't that the point? Who cares if it wasn't me personally taking down the trash on one particular day? Most people don't even take out the trash every single day anyway. We're not children, and the place is hardly a pigsty—I don't know why we even need that stupid chart."

Blaine shifted uncomfortably. "Well… I guess if everyone kind of has a job then there's no chance that anyone feels like they're ending up doing all the work. That's what my parents used to say anyway."

Rachel shrugged. "My parents never made me do any of this stuff."

Blaine blinked. "…For real?"

"Well, I guess they kind of hoped I'd pick up my room when I was little. But I don't think I would have been in huge trouble or anything if I didn't. One of my dads was really OCD about everything being in order so they hired a maid service so I didn't have to do so much. And they took turns with most of the cooking, and whichever one cooked that night would be off the hook for cleaning up. As long as I was doing fine in school, they didn't really push other stuff very often."

"I can't—even imagine- Seriously, I spent half my life as a teenager doing chores, and if I got in trouble for something I got more. Ask Kurt—pretty much anytime he came over to my house I always had something I had to finish first."

Rachel laughed. "I can't imagine you got in much trouble. You're like champion housecleaner around here so far. And didn't you graduate third in your class."

"Well with the strictest parents on the block I guess I learned pretty young not to mess around too much in school. But I got in trouble for other stuff sometimes. In fact, I remember cursing your name a bit sophomore year when I got a whole mess of extra stuff to do after I got drunk at your party."

"Woah. How'd your parents find out about that? Could they tell you were hungover or something?"  
"I think I confessed."

Rachel rolled her eyes, laughing. "Well that's an amateur mistake."

Blaine shrugged. "I guess I'm not always so good of a liar. And they're pretty good at laying on a guilt trip. But I'm surprised they didn't force me to give them your dads' number and tell on you too. I hardly knew you then, if that would have happened I'd have felt awful."

Rachel smiled. "Not sure what my dads would have done if they'd found out. The only thing I was really worried about that night was making sure Puck refilled their liquor cabinet. They probably wouldn't have flipped out that I had a party, but I don't know about the alcohol. I don't remember being terribly nervous about it though—I was pretty sure I'd get away with it."

"I remember being really impressed that your dads were out of town and trusted you all on your own. My parents never would have done that. I think they still got me a babysitter til I was like 14 or something, and I always had the earliest curfew- it was pretty mortifying most of the time."

"I think my dads gave me some kind of curfew freshman year but basically never enforced it. By senior year they didn't care as long as I wasn't out driving after bars closed and stuff. I guess they're lucky I wasn't out doing drugs or something. I was just so serious about Glee and school and so busy with clubs and stuff- I didn't really have a lot of time to get in trouble. "  
Blaine nodded. He still couldn't get over the fact that Rachel had never really had chores before. His mom had him folding laundry when he was in kindergarten, maybe younger. _No wonder she slacks on this stuff sometimes._


	14. Chapter 14

Kurt got in right at the stroke of 6:30 and was pleasantly surprised to see that Blaine and Rachel had made dinner.

"There's plenty for you too! Would be hard to have a pleasant House Meeting on empty stomachs." Rachel said brightly.

"Oh thank goodness, I'm starved."

"Sometimes it's nice to have roommates, huh?" Rachel teased.

Kurt smiled. "Sometimes…" He gave Blaine a quick kiss and then sat down. "Hey, Rach—" he said, touching Rachel's arm as she passed.

"Yeah?"  
"I'm sorry if I was… pushy last night."

"You? Pushy?" Rachel teased.  
Kurt made a face at Rachel but then softened. "I thought about it, and you're right. If you two are going to get in trouble for making a scene or something, I need to keep my attitude in check too."

Rachel smiled, surprised. "Apology accepted."

"And about the cooking stuff, I guess I never really laid out any expectations about that so I can't very well get mad if you're not doing things exactly as I want there."

Rachel bit her lip. "I guess… sometimes I'm not so quick to jump at getting certain things done around here. I'd probably nag me a little too."

"Well I thought part of the idea of us having our arrangement here was I wouldn't have to. Like you do what needs doing, and there's consequences, of course, if you don't- but you wanted to work on being more responsible. It's about building up some kind of intrinsic stamina for certain things. But me just hanging over you the minute I decide something needs doing probably isn't so much helpful as annoying."

Rachel glanced over at Blaine and then away. Kurt wasn't scolding her—in fact, he was being pretty gracious. But she still wasn't real used to talking about their arrangement with Blaine there. It felt a little like being under a magnifying glass, with her faults enlarged for him to see. She cleared her throat and moved back to the stove, scooping out pasta into bowls.

"Blaine and I were just talking, actually…" she said thoughtfully. "And I realized that my dads kind of had an arrangement with each other like you were saying. Like one would cook one night and the other would clean up, and then they'd switch. It does sound fair. I was only really objecting to you making a thing of it happening right that second. I'd like there to be a reasonable amount of time for me to do something rather than feeling under the gun."

"Like how we made the rule you could get most of your chores done before bed rather than making it have to happen at a certain time?"

"…Yeah." Rachel shifted uncomfortably. "-And if something has to be done in a specific way, I think it should be something we all agree on."

Kurt nodded. "I think I also got a little protective of Blaine last night, honestly," he said, glancing up at his fiancé.

"What? Why?" Blaine asked, sitting down.

"I saw you start cleaning up and didn't like the idea that you might have end up doing it all yourself. I thought Rachel would just stretch out being 'busy' and then act like she would have helped after it was already finished."

Rachel swallowed. That hadn't exactly been her thought process last night, but it did kind of sound like something she might do. Having Blaine around so far had meant there were some chances she could get out of things. Was she being manipulative? She looked over at Blaine, "I wouldn't… leave all the work to you if it seemed like it bothered you."

Kurt noticed the change in her body language thoughtfully. "Be honest. If I hadn't said anything last night and he had just cleaned everything up while you were texting on your phone, what would you have done?" he asked.

"I wouldn't really have minded—" Blaine interrupted, but stopped when Kurt put up his hand.

"I want to know what she would have done," he shushed.

Rachel looked to Blaine and then Kurt. "I guess I'd have… kinda just been grateful I didn't have to do it," she admitted.

Kurt nodded. "That's what I was kind of figuring."

"I mean, I don't know. I probably would have- said thank you, I guess. I wouldn't plan to leave it all to him, exactly…" Rachel defended.

"But you think, just maybe, you might just let it happen?"

"Roommates do stuff for each other sometimes, Kurt-" Blaine interjected, feeling like he needed to defend Rachel.

"And that's fine, as long as it's fair. I'm just saying, maybe part of the reason I was kind of hard on her last night was… I know you two really well. And Blaine doesn't always speak up about certain things, Rachel. I get bothered if I think he might be about to get manipulated—but the fact is it's not my job to fix everything for him either. If that's what was really bothering me, maybe I should have let him stand up for himself rather than doing it for him."

Rachel thought of how apologetically Blaine had confronted her that morning and knew he was right. It was definitely easier to talk Blaine into things than Kurt.

Blaine wasn't sure what to say. He probably would have cleaned up everything last night without a thought if Kurt hadn't made a deal of it. He didn't really think of it as manipulative… but thinking about that in the context of also knowing Rachel blew off her regular chores three days in a row… kind of gave him pause.

"You think I let people walk over me?" Blaine asked quietly.

"Sometimes." Kurt said honestly. "Maybe it's the little brother in you," he teased.

Blaine nodded. "I guess that's fair." He got pretty used to being bossed around when he was little. And he certainly had a lot of friends with pretty strong personalities. He fancied himself a leader at times but with conflicts that came up sometimes it was just easier not to make waves.

"Well you're living with two only children now, Blaine." Rachel offered. "I don't know if you've noticed, but we're both pretty independent and more than a little headstrong."

Blaine smiled. "I suspected."

"Yeah and knowing that about myself," Kurt added, humble, "I have to check my motivations sometimes. If I want to help you stand up for yourself sometimes, but that's how I do it—well I'm kind of just walking over you too. I shouldn't jump on Rachel on your behalf, when you haven't even asked me to. I should let you fight your own battles. And if I'm always warring with Rachel, I'm not being so great of a roommate either. Who wants to live in a place where people are just arguing over every little thing?"

"Sometimes arguing is good though," Rachel offered. "It clears the air. Keeps everyone honest. But I hear what you're saying," she said, thoughtful. "I know I kind of make fun of your "House Meetings," sometimes but I guess it's good we have them, especially now with the three of us. If someone's feeling really put out or something needs to change, we can make sure we talk about it. We can just be honest with each other."

"Ah right. Speaking of House Meetings, I guess we can officially call this one to order." Kurt said, putting on a more official voice. "I found out something today that has me concerned, and it made me a little unsettled. There are a couple things about the last few days that don't quite add up." He got up for a moment and pulled the Chore Chart off the refrigerator. "Since we've been having this nice conversation about the importance of honesty," he said, looking pointedly at his roommates. "I guess I'd just like to ask—anyone here have anything they need to tell me?"


	15. Chapter 15

Kurt noted that both Blaine and Rachel suddenly became very interested in their food. Blaine twirled pasta with his fork and Rachel poked at the tray of green beans, spooning some on her plate shakily. They glanced at each other, as if to see if the other one was going to say something.

Kurt sat back down. "Should I take that as a no?"

"W-we're not sure what you're… alluding to." Blaine said hesitantly.

Kurt pursed his lips. "Well, let's put it this way. I know something I'm not okay with happened, and it's making me wonder if there's more I don't know."

"You think we're hiding something from you?" Rachel asked, doing a somewhat better job than Blaine at faking innocence.

Kurt pushed the Chore Chart closer to them to answer.

"Just this morning you said you were happy that our chores were getting done, Kurt." Blaine said quietly.

Kurt pursed his lips. "Actually, what I recall saying is that I was happy Rachel was getting her chores done."

Rachel chewed her green beans nervously.

After a beat, Blaine asked, "Is there something I didn't do right? I tried to follow all the directions this week—"  
"No. It's not that."

Blaine looked back at his food.

Kurt wasn't very impressed that neither of them was making any confessions. "Alright. I'm going to ask this once," he said authoritatively. "It was my impression that chores had all gotten done this week, per the schedule and by each person who was responsible for them at the time. Was I correct?"

Blaine squirmed at Kurt's tone but didn't want to rat Rachel out. He wasn't sure what to do. "I—I followed the schedule Kurt. I d-don't think I missed any—"

Rachel groaned. "Obviously he's found out somehow Blaine. He must have overheard the whole thing this morning." She turned to Kurt. "You don't have to drag this all out," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Are you confessing to something?" Kurt said neutrally, ignoring the attitude.

Rachel hated it when he played dumb and made her spell out her infractions. It was infuriating. She tossed her fork in her bowl and leaned back in her chair, pouting. "I haven't been doing my chores."

Kurt's eyebrows raised. "Wait. Any of them?"

Rachel looked away, embarrassed. She sighed. "Well not for like three or four days. But you shouldn't be eavesdropping either! I'm just saying."

Kurt shook his head. "I didn't find out by eavesdropping. Liam from downstairs saw Blaine take out the trash the other night."  
Blaine shrunk a little, looking guilty.

"I should have put it together when you knew we were out of garbage bags. You told me Rachel told you that, and then she didn't know what I was talking about. I'd say that was a fib, young man, and you know very well how I feel about those." Kurt scolded.

Blaine fidgeted with his fork. "Sorry sir." He said meekly. It was awkward doing this with Rachel right there. He wasn't any stranger to Kurt calling him on stuff, but usually there was more… privacy.

"It's my fault," Rachel confessed. "I knew I had to do it, but I wanted to go out for drinks and… I texted Blaine because… I knew he'd just cover for me."

"Sounds pretty manipulative to me," Kurt commented.

Rachel blushed. "… yes sir. I… sorry Blaine."

Blaine nodded, sympathetic.

Kurt cleared his throat. "Well I'm not pleased with that, Rachel, but as I said before it's really up to Blaine to stand up for himself unless he chooses to involve me. What he chose instead to do was do some manipulating of his own."

Blaine rubbed his hand against the back of his neck.

"I didn't want Rachel to get in trouble. But I honestly also… didn't want to get in trouble myself, because I guess I knew you'd probably say covering for her wasn't… exactly truthful either."

"No, it's not." Kurt's voice hardened. "So you came up with a reason to keep me out of the apartment, told me you were going to Skype your mom—which it seems was also a lie?"

Blaine nodded miserably.

"And then," Kurt said, "you snuck out in the middle of the night to put the trash out back, something I've SPECIFICALLY told you I don't want you doing because I don't think it's safe. Liam wants to smoke out there that's his business; we all had an understanding that you two weren't to be out there after dark."

"Yes sir," Blaine whispered.

Kurt took a breath. "Now, I came in here, expecting to scold you both about this. I expected you both maybe thought it wasn't that big of a deal to switch chores and maybe what I didn't know didn't hurt me this one time. I wasn't entirely sure if there was more to this, so I wasn't even sure how much punishment was really going to be necessary. But now you're telling me Rachel that you've been blowing off your chores for days now?"

Rachel grimaced. "I didn't—mean to."

"You didn't mean to? What, you picked up a duster and your hand went numb? What is that supposed to mean?"

Rachel made a face, flustered."I just would think I'd get to the chores eventually later in the day and… stuff came up."

Kurt nodded, nonplussed. "What stuff?"

Rachel squirmed uncomfortably. "Well, once it was after I'd had a long shift and my feet hurt and so I asked Blaine…"

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Uh huh," he said, unimpressed.

Rachel sulked. "It wasn't like that. I wasn't trying to manipulate him."

"You had a responsibility you had agreed to. You were here and perfectly capable of doing it yet you decide you'd rather talk him into doing it for you. Did you offer to do something for him in return?"  
The thought hadn't even occurred to Rachel, but she didn't think Kurt would like that answer. "W-well, he didn't ask me to, so I didn't—"

"Right." Kurt interrupted cooly. "What else?"

Rachel pursed her lips. "Like I said, I kinda went out for drinks after rehearsal the other night and—I guess I sort of played it like I'd forgotten," she admitted.

"You hadn't?" Blaine asked.

"Well I didn't feel like doing it before I left, and then when I got to rehearsal, I guess I was kind of looking for an excuse not to get back home in time," she confessed, embarrassed. "But the thing with the shower—that time I just honestly forgot!"

"The shower?" Kurt asked.

"I saw the shower hadn't been done this morning, so I cleaned it up." Blaine explained. "When I found out it was her turn, we kind of talked about it. That's what you were overhearing this morning."

"I see. That's it?" Kurt pressed.

Blaine and Rachel nodded.

"We're sorry about all this." Blaine offered.

"Yeah," Rachel agreed. "We won't do it again?" she added, in a voice that betrayed her hope for leniency.

Kurt took a couple bites of his food, thinking and letting them sweat a bit. Finally, he cleared his throat.

"Well, we're going to finish our meal here, and since you two cooked I'll clean it up. Do you two have today's chores completed?"

"I… actually hadn't gotten around to it." Rachel admitted.

"Me either." Blaine said.

"Well, then it sounds like we all have some responsibilities to attend to after dinner." Kurt said sternly.

"Yessir." Rachel and Blaine chorused quietly.

"You'll complete your chores in the manner I expect. And then you'll meet me in the living room so we can discuss your punishment."

"Both of us?" Blaine asked timidly.

"I think it's pretty clear you both deserve to be punished, don't you?"

Blaine looked at Rachel and back at his plate, his face flushed. "Um. Yes, sir."


	16. Chapter 16

Rachel and Blaine ate the rest of their dinner in silence. Rachel was feeling pretty guilty. Blaine, for his part, was quietly feeling a little ill-used. _I was being nice_ , he reasoned. Obviously he knew Kurt didn't like them going out back by the dumpster after dark. Rachel herself had pointed that out when she texted him in the first place. He'd thought she was being—sort of responsible, even. She would have done it herself when she'd gotten home if it hadn't been that it was going to be so late—wouldn't she? Even when they'd talked in the morning about all this, he hadn't really been persuaded that she was trying to blow things off. He remembered their first House Meeting when she'd told him she'd gotten in trouble over chores with Kurt before. _Guess I can see how_. And maybe it wasn't a good idea to be loitering around behind the building after a certain hour—but it couldn't have been more than a couple minutes, right?

After dinner, Blaine vacuumed the rug and Rachel did all the dusting. They both took pains to do their jobs thoroughly, hoping that might earn favor. Both knew that arguing was unlikely to get them out of any discipline Kurt decided they'd earned, and both found that having to wait to be punished pretty unnerving. Both finished their chores fairly quickly and in less than ten minutes were sitting in the living room trying to put on appropriately remorseful faces in anticipation of Kurt's evaluation of just how much chastisement they were deserving.

Kurt eyed them sitting there as he finished washing down the table. It was probably for the best that they were in trouble together. It was the first time either of them had to be disciplined since Blaine had moved in. While he was confident they all bought into their arrangement, Rachel had never been punished in front of anyone before, and he knew from experience with Blaine that the embarrassment factor could bring an intensity to the experience that could outweigh even the pain a particular spanking might bring. He was not above using that fact to his advantage to make a point, but he did appreciate that it would make this harder for them. If they were all going to keep living together like this, it was unlikely that this would be the last time that would come up. But with both of them in trouble at least neither one would feel completely on the spot this first time.

Kurt hung the washcloth on the hook on the wall and walked from the kitchen into the living room. He took a moment to check that the rug and the shelves had been addressed to his satisfaction, and then sat on the couch to address the two miscreants.

He cleared his throat. "Well. We have gone off course this week and I don't think it should come as a surprise that I feel you two are in need of some firm correction."

Rachel and Blaine nodded gloomily, neither able to think of anything to say.

"If you two can't even last a week without trying to work around our most basic rules," Kurt continued sternly, "maybe you'll find getting your bottoms spanked a good reminder that I take those rules seriously. I don't put up with defiance, and I'm not going to have people sneaking around behind me in my own home."

Both Rachel and Blaine fidgeted at the mention of a spanking. It didn't come as a surprise, truthfully, but they'd both held out a tiny hope that there might be some kind of first offense reprieve.

"I spent a lot of time typing up that Chore Chart and you both agreed to it, did you not?"

"…Yessir." Rachel and Blaine responded grimly, each examining the floor as Kurt scolded.

"If you two persist with irresponsible behavior you're going to find yourselves losing some of your freedoms around here." Kurt continued. "I've given you both plenty of leeway to get your chores done in your own time, but if you need me to babysit you every day at a certain time, inspecting your work and swatting your backside when you drag your feet, I can make that happen." he threatened.

Rachel looked up with a nervous frown, unhappy with that idea.

"Yes, young lady. I said I'm going to avoid nagging you, but I assure you I'm ready to level consequences if you can't find the proper motivation to meet your responsibilities."

Rachel flushed. "…Yessir." She said, ashamed.

"And Blaine, I think you know how I feel about safety. You had no business going back there after dark and—"

"I was only out there for a couple minutes —" Blaine blurted.

Kurt's eyebrows raised. Rachel's jaw dropped a little, startled at Blaine's outburst. _I'd think he'd be smarter than that_ , she thought.

Seeing Kurt's stern look stopped Blaine in his tracks. "I—I mean—" he sputtered, unsure how to talk himself back. Finally he just closed his mouth, deeply uncomfortable.

Kurt spoke slowly, and with authority. "How many minutes did I say you were allowed to be back there after dark, young man?" he scolded.

Blaine swallowed, grimacing. He chewed at his lip, uneasy.

"How many?" Kurt repeated, unsympathetic. "When I ask you a question, I expect you to answer it," he said sternly.

Blaine felt like he'd kind of like the Earth to swallow him up right then. Finally he spoke, struggling to make eye contact. "N-none sir," came his timid reply.

"None." Kurt repeated, cold.

"Y-yessir… I—I'm sorry I-" Blaine sputtered.

"Do you decide the rules about safety around here, Blaine?" Kurt interrupted, unwavering. "Or do I?" Kurt pressed.

Blaine flushed, his fingers twitching. "Y-you do sir."

Kurt nodded, grim. "Come here, young man," he ordered.

Blaine squirmed, cursing himself for talking back. He forced himself to get to his feet, painfully aware of how unhappy Kurt was with him now. He had a way of making him feel very, very small when he wanted to, and having Rachel right there while it happened certainly didn't help.


	17. Chapter 17

Kurt was surprised Blaine had gotten defensive about going out back after dark. He'd figured he might argue that he was just trying to help Rachel out or something, but he didn't think he'd actually take issue with whether or not being back there was any big deal. Truthfully, if it hadn't been for the safety issue, he might even have considered letting Blaine off with a warning and a talking-to for covering for Rachel. He knew Rachel could be manipulative and it didn't seem altogether fair to punish him just for getting talked into helping her out. But if he didn't really see that flaunting a safety rule like that was an issue… well, than there was no question a spanking was in order.

They really did live in a pretty awful neighborhood, even by New York standards, but they knew a lot of their neighbors inside the building, and they tried not to worry about it too much. Rachel carried pepper spray and Kurt made them always keep cards in their coats and wallets with emergency contact information. He remember how Santana used to always criticize him and Rachel for not having strong enough street smarts. Accurate or no, there was no question street smarts were definitely required around here in a way they never had been in Lima. If Blaine was going to develop any he needed to start by respecting certain boundaries and avoiding unnecessary risks.

Kurt unbuttoned Blaine's jeans and tugged them down to his knees. Blaine's hands twisted uncomfortably; he never knew what to do with his hands in this situation. Kurt always spanked bare bottom, except in rare occasions where he deemed a swat or two sufficient. He seemed to think the process of baring was as significant as the punishment itself sometimes. Standing in the middle of the living room in his underwear now, Blaine could only admit that it did have a way of getting a person's attention.

"I take your safety seriously young man, and I expect you to do so too."

Blaine shrunk at Kurt's severe tone. "Yessir," he quietly replied. He didn't know what else to say.

Kurt tugged on Blaine's wrist and Blaine knew there was no getting out of it. He swallowed a sigh and gingerly crawled over Kurt's knee, hoping it would go fast and trying not to think about it all happening with Rachel sitting just feet away. He hesitated to wonder what his other friends might think if they saw him like this. He probably wouldn't know how to begin to explain, but he knew he'd be mortified to ever have to. He bit his lip, the thin fabric of his briefs pulled down to meet his jeans. He studied the fabric of the couch, hoping he'd at least be quick.

"It seems to me that if you two are going to be sneaking around together it's only appropriate that you be punished together," Kurt commented, lifting his hand and lighting Blaine's backside up with a hard SLAP that startled.

Blaine's fingers twisted against each other, a low whimper escaping his lips. "…Y-e-eess sir," came his unsteady reply.

"It's been a while since I've put you over my knee young man," Kurt continued with a SMACK-SLAP across the middle of his backside that smarted terribly, causing Blaine to hiss at the sting. _Guess he's not… warming up or anything_.

"Yessir." Blaine obediently muttered, trying to maintain at least some of his dignity.

SWAT-SMACK-SLAP-SLAP-SMACK—Kurt laid into Blaine's bottom with a series of quick and sharp spanks that had him wincing and struggling not to squirm.

Rachel was slumped in the chair across the room and grimaced as the rhythm of the punishing swats speed up. She was torn between feeling sorry for Blaine, and feeling sorry for herself and her own coming punishment. If she hadn't been so lazy about the stupid chores in the first place, neither one of them would be in trouble. _I'm such an idiot._

"I'm very SPANK-SMACK disappointed in your behavior, Blaine," Kurt was lecturing, "… and I hope SLAP-SMACK you understand why." He watched his troublemaker twist over his lap, holding on to his breath as though any moment a whimper would be set free.

"Mmm-mmm…" Blaine breathed, his voice higher than usual. "I—I d-do sir," he sputtered. "I ha-have to stay safe ss-ss-sir."

SLAP, sounded Kurt's sharp hand against Blaine's tender skin, reddening the curve of his bottom where it met his leg. If Blaine didn't think going out back without permission before was a big deal, he was starting to get an idea otherwise. "Next SPANK time SMACK you toy SMACK with ignoring safety expectations around here SLAP," Kurt scolded in his sternest voice, "you better SPANK-SMACK be considering whether you want your bare SLAP bottom SLAP back over my knee SMACK like this again, young man.

Blaine whimpered a "Yessir," wishing he'd behaved. Kurt aimed one last hard SMACK to his sit spots and sighed. He hoped he had gotten the message across. He had another troublemaker to deal with and it was getting late. _Disciplining two is some work, man._


	18. Chapter 18

Kurt tapped twice on Blaine's back. Blaine, red-faced but gratefully tear-free, quickly pulled his clothes back up. Kurt gestured for Blaine to go back to his seat and turned his attention to Rachel. Blaine bit his lip, certainly not going to argue about anything at this juncture, but dragged his feet a bit towards the chair. Kurt's fancy wire chairs didn't have much of a reputation for comfort normally, and even less so under these circumstances. Blaine tried to make himself as small as possible, gingerly sitting down and trying to think of something besides the lingering sting across his backside.

Rachel sniffled back tears, having found watching Blaine's punishment rather unpleasant. She kind of appreciated that she hadn't had to be first—it was a hair less embarrassing with Blaine already on the spot. But waiting wasn't fun either, and even though she did think Kurt had a point about safety it was hard not to feel guilty that Blaine wouldn't have even been over his knee if she hadn't manipulated him into covering for her. She glanced up at Kurt and then away when she caught his stern glare.

"You have anything to say for yourself young lady?" he asked.

"…I'm… sorry I talked Blaine into doing my chores," she said.

Kurt nodded. "I get it happening once. But three days in a row?"

Rachel pouted. "I said I'm sorry."

"Well that's good because you're making it up to him. Blaine's off the hook for chores the next three days. You'll be doing his as well as your own."

Blaine's jaw dropped at that.

"Kurt!" Rachel gasped.

"It's not—necessary…" Blaine hesitatingly offered.

"Blaine, are you in charge of her discipline, or am I?"

Blaine looked at the floor. "…You sir."

Rachel slumped, sulking.

"You had no problem with him doing twice as many chores for three days, maybe you'll think otherwise when it's your turn." Kurt lectured. "Fair?"

Rachel fidgeted, unhappy but unable to come up with any good argument. "…Yes sir."

"And I'm not staying up all night to check while you keep claiming you'll get to them eventually, either. They're done by 8. Got it?"

Rachel looked at the floor and nodded.

"Verbal answers, young lady," he reprimanded.

Rachel scowled. "Yes, sir."

Kurt gestured for her to come over and suddenly she was less scowling and more nervous. It was sometimes her m.o. to try to talk her way out of a punishment or argue about how fair it all was, but having just seen Mr. Compliant taken to the woodshed it was hard to justify making any kind of scene. If he'd earned a spanking she really didn't have a leg to stand on trying to claim she didn't.

Kurt was all business, taking her hand as soon as she was in grabbing distance and guiding her over his knee. She glanced up at Blaine as he was adjusting her there to his liking and shamefacedly looked away. Blaine felt sorry for her, even as he was distracted by the ache from his own punishment a moment before.

Kurt flipped up her black skirt and then bared her bottom, pushing her tights and panties to just past her knees. Blaine looked down, unsure where to put his eyes and feeling like it was rude to… just watch.

Kurt cleared his throat. "I'm disappointed that we're back here discussing your chores again, little girl."

Rachel pouted into the couch fabric, not a fan of when Kurt started in with "little girl" talk. Especially because it always came when she was bottom-up over his knee like this.

Kurt continued. "You may be going away for a few weeks, but Blaine is going to be here when you get back and we have to be able to take care of our home together. He's not here to do your work for you."

"Yessir," Rachel whimpered, getting teary.

"Maybe he thought he was being nice, but letting you get out things like this isn't nice," Kurt added, looking pointedly at his fiancé. "The Rachel I know asked for this arrangement we have, because she wants to improve herself and be held accountable, isn't that right?"

Rachel didn't like it, but he was right there. "Yes sir," she meekly whispered.

Kurt raised his hand and swatted down fast and hard SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP against her bare bottom, quickly sending Rachel whining and whimpering. Blaine shrunk at the sound, both of the spanking itself and her response to it.

"OWwwwwwwwww – Owww I'm sorrrryyyy…" she sputtered.

"SMACK I am not SLAP going to tolerate SPANK-SMACK this manipulative behavior SPANK-SPANK-SLAP little girl. You SMACK know SMACK better. SMACK-SMACK."

Blaine's eyes darted up, intimidated by how stern Kurt was being. It was odd being on this side of the situation. Kurt was warming Rachel's bottom up quickly, getting it squirming over his knee. He wondered if that's how he looked when he was in a similar position. Kurt tightened his grip around Rachel's waist, holding her in place as he SPANKed it further.

"It huuuurrrrrtss—" Rachel cried, feeling sorry for herself.

"It's meant to, Rachel," Kurt scolded with a SWAT low to her sit spots. "You don't like feeling me spank your bare bottom?" he asked, aiming a SPACK for the side of a cheek that was still merely pink.

"N-noooo Kur-urrrt," she whimpered in begging reply.

SMACK. Kurt slapped his hand down harder than before, and she squealed, her red cheeks bouncing over his knee. Blaine winced, unable to tear his eyes away now.

"It's the feeling SWAT of learning SPANK your SLAP lesson SMACK, young lady. Is there going to be any more pouting about chores or sneaking around behind my back around here?"

Rachel was full-out crying now, trying to catch her breath. "Nooooosirrrr."  
"That's right." Kurt pronounced, getting in a few last stinging SPANKS to her sit spots before stretching the sting from his hand. "Because you know I have no problem pulling your panties to your knees and reddening this fanny as often as it needs it. Every week if we need to," he threatened.

"Noooo…." Rachel whined, aching to rub the sting from her fiery backside away.

"We've had that chore chart less than a week. You ought to be ashamed of yourself," Kurt scolded.

Rachel sobbed. "Yesssirrrr."

"I'm going to be just as strict as your behavior tells me you need, young lady. Understand?"  
Rachel nodded, unable to speak through her whimpering. Kurt let her cry a little bit, catching her breath. Finally he helped her hobble tearily to her feet and pull her panties and tights back over her sore bottom.


	19. Chapter 19

Kurt checked his watch as Rachel sulkily rubbed her bottom. Blaine let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding, just relieved that both their spankings were over.

Kurt looked out the window. "Well, I guess we've got another half hour of daylight at most, so I'm going to take care of the trash," he said quietly, knowing his roommates needed a moment to process their remorse.

Blaine and Rachel nodded but they were quiet as he swiftly walked through the apartment emptying out all the cans into a trash bag. It wasn't until Kurt had closed the loft's door behind him that Blaine tentatively stood up, making a face at the still gnawing pain as he did so. Rachel grabbed a tissue from the coffee table, wiping her eyes and nose, still shaky and raw. They stood for a moment, not sure what to say to each other.

"…You okay?" Blaine hesitantly asked at last.

Rachel nodded. "You?" she asked him.

"Yeah," he replied quietly.

She squirmed as she stood for a moment there, as though she were trying to wiggle away from the lingering sting across her bottom.

After a moment, Blaine stepped forward a few steps and touched her shoulder. He leaned in and kissed her cheek, and she laid her head against his chest to give him a hug.

"I really am sorry," she whispered.

Blaine nodded. "I know. It's okay. I forgive you."

Rachel sniffled and wiped at her face. "I guess… there had to be a first time. I mean, for me—with you here…" she trailed off.

"I felt bad about it. Being here, I mean." Blaine admitted. "I know it's harder… having an audience.

Rachel sighed and shrugged. "It's hard either way, though. Those couple times back in high school I'd seen you—get in trouble with him… I didn't really get it then."

"Yeah."

"I'm mostly used to it now though. And with you here, it's awkward sometimes but it's also kinda nice not to be the only one."

Blaine nodded. "It is. I know our relationships with him are different, but this is kind of… something I can't really talk to anyone else about."

"He takes good care of me. Even if I don't… always like it."

Blaine smiled. "I know what you mean."

"You and Kurt planning on staying in tonight?"

Blaine nodded. "Yeah. 'Specially now—" he added, making a face, "I think you got the worst of it tonight, but I'm not going to feel super interested in… going out dancing or anything."

"Heh. Yeah. Guess the upside of getting in trouble together is misery will always love company. Whenever I get a tanning like this usually all I want to do is crawl under my covers and feel sorry for myself mostly until it doesn't hurt much anymore."

"Well, in my experience distractions help. Tell you what, I'll make popcorn and you can check Netflix. If we team up against you think we'd be able to talk Kurt into something made after 1989?"

Rachel giggled. "We can try!" she said.


End file.
